1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle with an interchangeable truck bed and, more specifically, a vehicle that includes mounting interfaces that allow the vehicle to be used with a variety of different truck beds.
2. Description of the Related Art
Trucks that have a removable bed are known in the art. For example, various apparatus have been developed for use with the tractor of a conventional tractor-trailer combination. Such tractors typically have a front steerable axle, two rear axles and a fifth wheel for attaching a trailer to the tractor. The design of fifth wheels has been standardized to allow such tractors to work with cargo trailers having a standard design. The fifth wheel includes a large metal plate mounted to the tractor chassis that typically includes a slot opening toward the rear of the tractor to receive the king pin of the trailer. The fifth wheel provides a support surface for the trailer, locks the king pin in place and provides for the rotation of the trailer relative to the tractor.
Various truck beds have been designed that can be mounted over the fifth wheel of such a tractor. These truck beds, however, can be awkward to mount and remove from the tractor. Moreover, these trailers do not have the same capacity as a tri-axle truck body, i.e., a truck having a front steerable axle and three rear axles, that are often equipped with dump beds for hauling earth and other heavy loads.
The removal of the bed of a tri-axle dump truck is also known. However, the removal of such a bed is typically quite labor intensive because of the hinge that is used to attach the bed to the chassis of the vehicle. Typically, a first pair of hinge knuckles is fixed to the bed itself while a second pair of hinge knuckles is fixed to the chassis of the vehicle. Hinge pins connect the two pair of knuckles together to provide a hinged attachment of the bed to the chassis. The bed will also include a hydraulic ram that has a base attached to the vehicle chassis. The removal of the bed requires that the hinge pins be removed as well as the detachment of the hydraulic ram base. The removal of the hinge pins, and subsequent reinsertion when installing a dump bed on the triaxle truck body, can be difficult and quite time consuming, i.e., several hours or more.
It may be desirable to change the bed of such a truck to replace it with a different type of bed, e.g., a flat bed, water tank or fifth wheel, so that the truck can be used to perform additional functions and thereby minimize the capital expenditures to achieve a given range of functionality. At other times it will also be necessary to replace the bed with a similar bed because the original bed has been damaged. The significant amount of time required to remove one bed from the truck and install a new bed, whether having the same or different function, on the truck removes the truck from service for a significant amount of time leading to increased labor costs as well as lost revenue.
A vehicle system that allows a truck to have its bed relatively easily and quickly removed and replaced is desirable.